Customer Reviews

She's My Dad

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After reading She's My Dad, and being left completely taken back by the story line, I find that I am more inclined to want to read it again, and get even more clarity. I enjoyed the way this book has been written. It is adult and alarming, warm and caring, and the character development is compelling in a way that makes you know them deeply. You cannot help but become involved with the characters in this book. They are painted brilliantly and are individually complete. I whole heartedly recommend this wonderful piece of literature to all. No matter your age, gender,or sexuality there is something for you, in this book. Once the introduction of the characters is complete, hold on for the ride of your life. I loved it! Robert Drake Davidson (twwic)

When transsexual Nickie Farrell returns to her Northern Virgina alma mater, Windfield, to teach college English, little does she know, living nearby is her grown illegitimate son - who was the result of an illicit affair that Nickie had while she was a male student in her undergraduate years. As if that doesn't add enough unwanted drama to her life, Nickie is soon forced to contend with the unchecked zeal of an overly-ambitious journalism student - who may just thwart her efforts to keep a low profile. To top it all off, a dying, embittered ambassador centers his hatred for what he considers to be an increasingly perverted world on Windfield - determined to fulfill his patriotic duty by destroying the school with a dirty suicide bomb. Amidst all the lies, deceit, prejudice, and downright hate, can Nickie find the redemption her soul has sought for so long...?

She's My Dad is quite the intriguing read. Against the backdrop of vivid, well-drawn characters and a riveting central plotline, author Iolanthe Woulff has crafted a standout tale of love, tolerance, and forgiveness in the face of hatred and bigotry. Though the issue of transgender equality remains taboo for much of our mainstream society, Woulff bravely tackles the topic head-on with convincing courage and fortitude, beckoning the reader - by the subtly compelling power of her writing - to do the same. Skillfully avoiding coming off as preachy or condescending, She's My Dad is an engaging story of everyday humanity at its most raw, one that is sure to open the reader's eyes to a fresh new perspective on a long-debated issue. A highly recommended, deeply insightful read.


Morgan Drake
Apex Reviews

It was quite an honor to have read this book before it was published and share in the excitement of a friend who is all about being true to self and not being afraid to risk it all. As a result, Iolanthe's book, rang true to it's name. There are many interesting twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. The topic is one that is rarely written about, but one that is very real in today's world. I felt that "She's my Dad" addressed feelings that need to be understood in order for us to have compassion and respect for a choice of lifestyles that is incredibly bold. I learned alot about myself and my supposed beliefs and enjoyed the story as well. For me, it was a winning combination and a read that shouldn't be missed. Enjoy!

Jill Langham

At first glance, the title of Iolanthe Woulff's book, She's My Dad, may seem confusing, but don't be alarmed. Once you learn what the book is actually about, the title will make complete sense. There's always been a great debate surrounding the old saying, "Write what you know." The subject matter of this book is obviously something Mrs. Woulff knows a lot about because she has lived it. Mrs. Woulff is a transexual woman.

Being a gay male myself, I was more open to considering this book for review. I have never known a transexual, to my knowledge, but society has always pushed them into the GLBT community (gay, lesbain, bisexual, transgendered). Remember the childhood song, "One of These Things is Not Like the Other?" Many transexuals go on to lead heterosexual lives, but I think that since many begin by experimenting with cross dressing, it's very natural for them to be more accepted among others who are also different and who have faced as much ridicule for just wanting to be who they are. Our community is much more accepting, so it's nice to have them as a part of it.

But it's this ridicule and prejudice that becomes a leading theme in Mrs. Woulff's book. The lead character, Nickie Farrell, was born and later graduated from college as a man. Now a woman, she returns to her alma mater, extreme liberal Windfield College in Northern Virginia, to teach English. Hoping to keep a low profile and enjoy her "new life" as a female, her desires are soon crushed by a lesbian student reporter named Cinda Vanderhart. Cinda's suspicions of Farrell are raised when she notices that Nickie has the exact same unique eye color as a young male waiter, named Collie, in town.

Now, it's not uncommon for you to have the same eye color has several people in your neighborhood, but the reason Nickie and Collie's eyes are immediately noticeable is because each eye is a different color (as shown on the front of the book). I love this character trait as sort of being a unique metaphor to the dual life led by Woulff's characters in one way or another.

Woulff embraces that classic "A-ha!" theme that we've all read in books or seen in films before. There's always a nosy reporter or gossipy neighbor who sets out to expose the politician or stranger in town for who or what they really are. Often, there's a twist in the end that spoils all preconceived notions for the audience and the characters or the tables are turned when the lack luster "secrets" are revealed and no one is really impressed; the reporter or neighbor is the fool or seeks redemption. In this case, Cinda is the latter, but this story goes deeper than just exposing Nickie's secret.

Collie's mother is dying and confesses to him that he was the result of an affair she had with college senior Nick Farrington many years ago. Distraught over her death and her secret, Collie seeks guidance from a devout Christian coworker named Robin Thompson, who has also been helping Cinda with her investigation into the possibility of Farrell and Collie being related. Obviously, the two story lines collide but not before Woulff pens in a bomb threat on the college by a former U.S. Ambassador which only builds on the intensity of the novel. As family is reunited and lives hang in the balance, the story comes to quite the conclusion for all.

Despite the fact that this book is over 400 pages (most know I hate reading anything over 300), this is probably the first time I'll say I was pleasantly and constantly entertained throughout the full course of the book. My biggest complaint in fiction is that it is often drawn out too much, but Mrs. Woulff has created an array of characters and storylines here that remained interesting enough to hold my full attention. The book is indeed heartfelt, probably for both the reader and the author, and one where hate is ultimately defeated. Keep an open mind and you are sure to put this book down as a better person and a smarter individual in society.

As for the book itself, I have nothing but praise for Outskirts here. It is a thick book, but the list price is not too outrageous as we have seen before in self-published books of this size. The cover design by Joleen Wouk is brilliant and my only complaint would be the white lettering against the gray background. It almost reminded me of those Amish romances I've seen on shelves lately with muted tones of green, white, and gray. The interior is nicely formatted and very professional, making this a book Mrs. Woulff should be very proud of.

But like a person, a book's physicalities are just that - what's on the outside. It's what's on the inside that really matters. Mrs. Woulff's book should serve as a reminder that yes, we can change what's on the outside but the honesty inside is forever. As the tagline of the book says, "Hate destroys everything. Don't let it destroy you..."

Picture, if you can, the following plot for a novel: The herione of the novel is a transexual named Nickie Farrell who returns to her Northern Virginia alma mater, Windfield, to teach English as an associate professor. It's the college she attended when she was a male. Nickie is unaware that she has a son in a nearby town from an illicit love affair she had during her male undergraduate days. Windfield College was financed and built by Randall Windfield, the sole surviving heir of wealthy Hendrix Windfield III, who had wanted to set up Randall as the successor to run the family empire. But, upon learning that Randall was a homosexual, his father humiliated him at a big dinner party and would likely have disowned him if it weren't for the fact that he and the other siblings died in a plane crash, leaving Randall as the heir.

The person Nickie had the affair with when she was a male and called Nick is Luanne Skinner, wife of ex-policeman James Robert "Jay-Bo" Skinner, who she had a set of twins, a boy and a girl, by at the time of the affair. She loved Nick, and his tender way of love making and that he had one blue and one brown eye. The boy that resulted from the affair, Colin "Collie" Skinner also has two different colored eyes. He can't stand his father's prejudiced, red-necked opinions, though he, himself, has a doesn't like gays, and found it hard to face hearing about his sister's lesbian love affair when she was in the military and her suicide that happened as a result of the news getting out. As you read, you just know that Nickie and Collie are destined to eventually meet. The only question is when, and how each will react to the other.

Also, there's a suspenseful subplot involving Ambassador Eamon Douglass, who is dying of cancer and who considers himself to be a patriot. He hates the decline he imagines is happening in America, brought about by liberalism, the Jews, the homosexuals, etc., and as a convenient target of his hate and prejudice, he's chosen Windfield College. He hatches the idea to enlist the aid of his old Russian friend, Egor Antonovich, who is an ex-KGB agent, to obtain Cesium 137 and then to sacrifice himself in a suicide bombing at the college.

That's just a brief sketch of the plot. When I read about it prior to reading it, and also read that the author, herself, Iolanthe Woulff, was born a boy and the son of the famous author Herman Woulk, and twenty-five years later underwent gender transition, I thought honestly that the plot was sort of odd and twisted. I thought that despite the author's father being a famous author, also, that there was a good chance the novel would be not that well written and possibly to be crap. On top of these initial feelings, though I have a live and let live attitude about one's sexual preference, I am a heterosexual, and happily married with kids, and I was leery that there might be some graphic sex scenes in the novel and that it'd be some trashy soft-core gay porno novel.

That's me being honest - but, I am glad I read the novel I'm referring to, She's My Dad, and I think it's one of the most literate and well-written books I've read in a long time. Iolanthe Woulff is a remarkable writer who reminds me of a cross between John Irving, at least when I think of his novel The World According to Garp, and Tom Wolfe. The fictional Windfield College is portrayed brilliantly, and the prejudice that some townspeople have towards the college and gays, as personified by colorful and narrow-minded characters like Jay-Bo, Eamon Douglass, and others, is handled deftly.

The title of the novel is not exactly my favorite, but it does reflect Collie's eventual love and acceptance of his father. This is a relatively minor beef, though, as the writing is excellent throughout, and no matter what the subject matter is of a book, that is the most important consideration for me of whether a book is "good" and worth the time spent reading it or not. She's My Dad is a page-turning debut novel, and I hope it gets a wide audience. I'm looking forward to reading more from the talented pen of Iolanthe Woulff in the future.

I read somewhere that family dysfunction makes for rich literary soil, and in this novel it could not be more true! There is ample fertile ground waiting to be plowed.

The character development is superb. The author painstakingly cultivates the deepest darkest godawful secrets of a deranged madman, along with other supporting intolerant narrow-minded characters, and grows them into some of the most diabolical acts of intolerance and hatred imaginable.

I loved the suspense...I could not wait to see what darkness was being hatched next, so much so that I actually read by flashlight for 4 hours during an electrical power outage.

This book is a must-read. It not only fed my need for fast-paced suspense, but it also satisfied my own curiosity about some of the challenges of gender identity disorder and addressed my own misconceptions about transsexualism in general.

"Reverend Shorr sipped a glass of water. 'Sometimes I think that the scientific community has taken us all much too far, much too fast. Life was complicated enough before...But we mustn't second-guess our Lord...'"


What a powerful suspense drama! She's My Dad by Iolanthe Woulff is a provocative hold-no-bars book that successfully illustrates the power of both love and hate. Woulff does this through characters that are so alive with their emotions that readers are immediately caught within the honest reality portrayed. Fascinating!

By nature of the material covered, readers should be aware that some content might be offensive. Personally, I didn't find it so because the characters that were offensive were those I enjoyed hating! Then, too, as Reverend Shorr admitted in the book, there is too little written and taught about today's sexuality and our technological world. I believe this type of fiction is one of the ways by which it can be shown how love can triumph over hate. The novel is somewhat based upon the true experience of the author. She has my admiration for her courage.

Nickie Farrell graduated from Windfield College and then came back many years later to apply for a temporary position replacing an English professor. During her college years, she had participated in an affair with a local resident and a child had come from that relationship. Nickie was the father of that child.

During her absence, Nickie had undergone a medically monitored sex change and was now a beautiful woman. At least Alex Steward thought so since upon their first meeting, Nickie and Alex had been immediately attracted to each other.

Beautiful love story? Not!

There was an excessive amount of town-gown tension between Windfield students and local residents. There was sufficient history that was still remembered by residents, especially, Ambassador Eamon Douglass, of how the free-thinking liberal college had been started and the students who arrived in town were either ignored, hated or worse.

As Nickie became involved in teaching, one particularly zealous journalism major started noticing and wondering about Nickie's background and started to investigate. In many ways, her news article set off much that occurred, but it was hate and fear that fed the major events, which finally culminated in a terrorist plan to bomb the College!

This book is about hope. Hope for a time when those who are different in some way are not automatically hated. There will always be evil people, but they cannot be stereotyped. They could be your neighbors or your supposed friends. As proclaimed several times in the book, "Hate destroys everything. Don't let it destroy you."

Thank you Iolanthe Woulff for She's My Dad--a highly recommended, truly remarkable book!

G. A. Bixler

Two mysteries intertwine in Iolanthe Woulff's novel She's My Dad. There's Nickie Farrel, the new English professor at a modern liberal college, hiding secrets in her past. And there's the obnoxious Ambassador Douglass plotting future evil in the name of conservative values and patriotism. The author does an excellent job of setting the scene, creating a vision of town and gown living separate lives, a college celebrating liberalism built on sacred bones of intolerance. Collie, of the mismatched eyes, tries to protect his mother from his father's abuse. Nickie, the beautiful stranger, begins her new career. Douglass fumes at the demise of good old-fashioned values. And assorted characters of violent inclination, homophobia or selfish ambition thicken the plot.

The drama's well-played and well-portrayed. The characters are plausibly real and conflicted, except for a somewhat charicaturish villain. The plot may be overly melodramatic, but the pages fly by and the heart beats faster in search of a happy ending.

Some fascinating conversations take place, opinions questioned, presuppositions and prejudice brought to light in the gentlest, unpreachy way, and even faith, love and forgiveness making their mark. It would be hard to read this and not come away both challenged and delighted at the outcome--a truly memorable tale of a loving father, lost and found.



Disclosure: I read this ebook in the mystery section of the Dan Poynter Global eBook Awards.

Most of my prior reading relating to transsexual and transgender issues has been of an academic/scholarly nature, or first person accounts; so the prospect of a novel about a transsexual woman returning to her alma mater several decades after having unknowingly fathered a son sounded interesting. Interesting, it turns out, is a HUGE understatement! I could barely put this engaging book down--and what I had planned for a leisurely weekend read turned out to be an almost non-stop read in one afternoon!

Ms Woulff's richly drawn characters and gripping, intertwined subplots both elucidate and subject the reader to a whole range of emotions--hatred, fear, sadness, contempt, but throughout-- and ultimately--love. One needn't be a member of the LGBT community to be inspired by this book. Indeed, only the most jaded among us would fail to see--and grow by--the valuable lessons it offers.

It is a fairly common occurrence for teachers to find their way back to their alma mater in pursuit of an academic career. Tall, striking, red haired Nickie Farrell's decision to return to the bucolic Virginia campus where she graduated as Nick Farrington twenty plus years earlier is not so common an occurrence, and it effectively sets the stage for an utterly uncommon debut novel by Iolanthe Woulff.

Nickie Farrell's return to the college she attended decades prior to her transition might seem a sufficiently complex premise for any novel, but the complications do not begin or end there, as unbeknownst to Ms. Farrell, Nick Farrington's affair with the beleaguered, unhappily married Luanne Skinner while he was a student at Windfield College, produced a son, Nicholas ("Collie") Skinner. It is a secret that Luanne guards with her life, that ultimately erupts in a carefully and effectively plotted tangle of intrigue, bigotry, romance, and violence.

Still dealing with the formidable challenges of adjusting to life as a trans woman, Nickie Farrell also finds herself at the volatile center of a community teetering between tolerance and hatred, and a deadly plot to purge that community of the perceived threats to `traditional' morals and values that she most conspicuously embodies. Clearly this story and its central characters are close to Woulff's heart. Her heroine is sensitively and thoughtfully drawn, compelling in both her struggles and her strengths.

It is an ambitious first novel--roughly 400 pages long with a swirling storyline that, though cleverly managed, still seems at times too much even for the daunting length of the book to fully flesh out. One prevailing impression is that it would have made for a fine sequel or even a series, with more time and space to focus separately on the plethora of compelling threads woven together here, such as Nickie's navigation of the tricky waters of romance with a straight male colleague, her coming to terms with the shock of being a parent to a grown son, and the complicated elements of intrigue and prejudice that form the backdrop of this work.

Despite some issues for this Virginia-born and raised reviewer with the premise of a college in the Old Dominion founded on the principles of sexual tolerance and diversity--and some occasionally stilted, Harlequinesque romantic vernacular--Woulff succeeds in creating an uncommonly appealing main character whose story is both engaging and illuminating. And she succeeds admirably in accomplishing that most critical task for the first-time novelist: She leaves us eager to read more.

Dan Stone
The Rest of Our Lives